Scarecrow Plant Stakes
Kids and adults will love to make these scarecrows to display in potted plants. You can make a larger scarecrow for your yard by using dowels instead of craft sticks and simply using a larger ball, hat and piece of burlap. Use your creativity to customize your scarecrow. Maybe use a baseball hat or a t-shirt on a larger scarecrow.
Materials:
- 1 1/2" Styrofoam ball
- Twine
- 2 Tiny elastics*
- 4" Straw hat
- Raffia
- Burlap, 3" x 7"
- Fine point black Sharpie marker
- 1 Regular craft stick
- 1 Jumbo craft stick
*I used orthodontic elastics but small clear hair elastics would be fine also.
- Lay the jumbo craft stick down on your work surface. Lay the regular size craft stick across the jumbo one approximately 1 1/2" from one end. Use a piece of twine to tie them together wrapping the twine in a criss- cross pattern. Wrap around two to three times. Knot the two ends together. You could glue them together if you prefer.
- Cut a bundle of raffia that is about 2" longer than the regular craft stick. The regular size craft stick will be the arms. Lay the raffia across the "arms" having some raffia in front and some behind the craft stick so that the stick isn't visible. Wrap a small elastic around the raffia about 1" from each end.
- Cut a 3" wide by 7" long piece of burlap. Cut a small x in the center of the burlap.
- Slide the burlap over the end of the jumbo craft stick and using a 10" piece of twine (string), tie it in a knot around the burlap slightly below the arms.
- Place the Styrofoam ball on top of the jumbo craft stick and place the straw hat on top of the Styrofoam ball. It should fit snugly and not need glue but if you prefer, you can put some tacky glue on the end of the craft stick before you place the Styrofoam ball on top and you can run a bead of glue around the inside edge of the hat before placing it on the Styrofoam ball.
- Using the black Sharpie, draw a face on your scarecrow. Gently press down on your marker as you draw the face so that it leaves an indent where you draw.
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Idea: You can slip a nylon stocking over the Styrofoam ball before placing it on the stick to give your scarecrow some color. If you do this, cut off any excess stocking and tuck the ends of the stocking into the hole you make in the bottom of the head when it's placed on the stick.